When The Grid Goes Down…

Let’s just say that the unthinkable becomes the real and happening. Let’s take this article and go over it. This will be a segment in three parts, the next ones being immediate actions taken at work and at home. I’m hitting on traveling first, as there are so many vacationers jaunting around happily over the landscape. All kidding aside, traffic is congested during the summer, extending traveling time on the commutes. Let’s game the scenario, and here it is.

Here’s the scenario:

You’re cruising down the highway in your 2013 four-door sedan, having just dropped the kids off twenty minutes ago to the swim club. Now you’re on the open highway with a heavy traffic flow…about 5 miles from the edge of town and 7 miles from work. You’re listening to the radio, when suddenly it crackles and goes dead, along with your engine. You look around and pumping the brakes manage to slow down and then drive off the road onto the shoulder, just feet away from the back bumper of another vehicle.

The vehicle comes to a stop, and you try the ignition again. You look at your watch, a Casio G-Shock, to find there is no display. You reach for your cell phone. Nothing. It’s dead. There are perhaps a dozen cars around you…half to your front and half to your rear. All of them have stopped, and most of the drivers have gotten out. You hear the sound of an engine, and looking up, see a ’58 Ford pickup truck weaving in and out of the stalled traffic, moving toward your rear, away from town. The book “One Second After” has just played out in real life. The United States has been attacked by an EMP (Electromagnetic Pulse) weapon. You’re 15 miles from home, and the “S” has hit the fan.

On Friday 7/29/17, North Korea just successfully tested an ICBM (Intercontinental Ballistic Missile) and experts from four different countries including the U.S. have determined that they have the capability of striking the U.S. anywhere. That means the optimal point for an EMP strike (dead center of the continental U.S., at 300 km above ground) is not only their prime target but also attainable.

15 Tips to Get Safely Home Following an EMP

Back to our scenario. Most will be clueless and unprepared. Let’s do it up, down and dirty with the steps that you should take if you are “Citizen X” outlined in the scenario:

1. Have a plan already in place: That means to formulate one right now, if you haven’t already done so.

2. If there are a lot of people around, such as in the scenario, then immediately grab your gear and get out of there. What gear, you may ask? We’ve “gamed” much of this to the point of nausea, but let’s list out those essentials:

“Go/Bug Out Bag”: This guy already needs to be packed and ready, in that vehicle that will become a 3,000-lb. paperweight. Three days’ supply of ready-to-eat food, one day’s worth of water and the means to filter more. Compass, flashlight, knife, first aid kit, poncho, jacket/sweatshirt, extra socks, map, light sleeping bag, fire starting material, small fishing kit (hooks, line, bobber), sewing kit, MSW (Minor Surgical Wound) kit, extra cash ($20 denominations and smaller), ground pad, extra clothing (hat, OG bandana, etc.), and ammo. An EMP may be followed by radiological and nuclear consequences. Having an NBC gas mask and anti-radiation pills in your vehicle could be a lifesaver.

Weapon: Please don’t feed me “legal information,” or “I can’t do that in my state.” These are “sink or swim” rules. If you don’t have a weapon now, you may not have one later. If you don’t have the fortitude to take that weapon and be ready to use it when the time comes, then you probably won’t survive this or be able to help your family. One rifle, one pistol, with ammo for each.

Grab that bag and put it on, securing your weapons. Then secure the vehicle, closing the windows and locking it up. If nobody is around, throw it into neutral and push it off the road. Camouflage it with branches and leaves…taking care not to cut them from the immediate area that you stash it. Most likely it’ll be “violated,” so now is the time to take the stuff you need and get it out. If the scenario above applies, just secure the vehicle and get out of there.

3. Traveling: Do not walk on the roads. Skirt the road with about 50 meters (that’s about 150 feet) between you and the edge of the road. Stay away from people unless you know them and trust them…both qualities are emboldened.

4. For metro people: If you are out in the suburbs or open road, and you must return to the city? It may be better for you and your family to arrange for a rallying point outside of the city. If that isn’t possible, then you should exercise extreme caution. Allow the nearest family member to secure the home and then wait for you. Travel when it’s dark to be on the safe side. Your visibility is cut down, and so is the visibility of those who may be hunting you.

5. Long distance to go? Forage along the way. Refill your canteens/water bottles whenever you’re able, and take note of any freestanding water supplies or “blue” features (that’s the color of water on a military map) for use in the future. DON’T MARK YOUR MAP! If someone gets a hold of it, you do not want them to be able to find your home. You must commit the route to memory and adjust your steps accordingly.

6. Dealing with the Stress of the Event: The power is not coming back on…ever…and it really has begun…the Day After Doomsday is here. Take a deep breath and concentrate on your training, your preparations. If you don’t have any, then this piece is a wake-up call to get moving! The best way to do it is immediately accepting what has happened without dwelling on it. Concentrate on the tasks at hand: navigating home, scouting what is in between, and foraging for anything you need. You have a job to do! Reconnaissance! We’ll go over that now.

Reconnaissance: You must see on the ground what is in between you and the happy Hallmark home you’re returning to. You should take note of any places that hold medical supplies, food, or anything you may need for yourself or your family. You should take note of possible refuge sites to hide if you and the family hightail it out of the home instead of having a “Walton Family Homecoming.” You must take note of water features, danger locations (cliffs or impassable terrain features), as well as dangerous individuals. Yes, the ones who were jerks before all of this? Wait until you see how they’ll be now, with no controls exercised over them.

7. The best advice I can give: Travel at night. This may be impossible for several reasons. Firstly, if it’s an all-out nuke attack, there may be the problem of radiation for you, in which case you’ll have to either reach home immediately or seek shelter immediately to remain in place for several weeks. Secondly, you may have other family members that need to be attended to and cannot wait for a long time. The kids in the scenario are a prime example. If it is an EMP only, there will be a “quiet period” of about 6 to 12 hours before everything breaks loose and the sequel to the movie “The Road” begins in real life. Darkness is the best time to travel. It hides you and helps you to cover your tracks until the morning light.

8.The rest of the family: They must KNOW THE OVERALL PLAN AND HAVE A PLAN OF THEIR OWN TO FOLLOW UNTIL YOU GET THEM OR UNTIL THEY REACH HOME. This is all going to take some preparation on your part and remember the saying: An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Don’t put it off!

9. Avoid people, families, and groups of people. Your goal when traveling is to be invisible. I wrote some articles on how to hunt and how to avoid the manhunt. You may want to refresh yourself on those points, and follow a few basic rules I keep in my own mind and heart:

When a disaster occurs, everyone is your “friend” even when they are not

There is no interest but self-interest outside of you and your immediate family

Whatever you need and have, they also need and want

They will kill you for the barest of essentials of what you’re carrying

Don’t talk to anyone: don’t exchange information, pleasantries, and do not tell anyone anything about yourself, your family, your general destination, or your home…it can be used against you later…and it will be.

10. Coming home: Don’t walk right on in. Use a roundabout route, and go to a spot where you can watch your house for at least half an hour or so before making your “triumphant return.” The S has hit the fan, and this is not the return of the Prodigal…you’re just going to tiptoe in. But before you tiptoe through the tulips and the window, keep in mind that Tiny Tim and his gang of marauders may have done it before you. That is why you want to watch the house closely. Best Advice I can give: Have your kids/spouse put up a long-distance-visible sign/signal so that you know everything is either OK or that you’ll have to come in and rescue the family. For example, if the birdhouse is still on the corner of the porch, then all is well. If the birdhouse is gone, or if it’s sitting on top of the post that holds the mailbox…well, time to play CQB (that’s Close Quarters Battle) and clear the house of the rats.

11. Never underestimate anyone’s ability to take your family members hostage: That goes for the “friendly neighbors,” most of all…the biggest rats on the block. If that happens, guess what? You’re now the HRT (that’s Hostage Rescue Team), or you better have a couple of guys such as this in your survival group/pod/neighborhood unit. The hardest guy or gal in the world will “cave” when their son or daughter is being held at gunpoint by some goon.

12. You’re home…Now, it’s time to fight! That’s right! Just when you thought it would be cozy and comfortable…just you and the family and your happy supplies…here comes a whole bagful of “Gummi Bears” down the block…only these bears are armed with baseball bats, zip guns, chains, and crowbars. Armed also with about a week of BO (that’s Body Odor), all twelve of them combined still have an IQ of 50, tops…and here they are, at your door. They don’t want Halloween candy, by the way. You just walked twenty miles. Say, remember that article I wrote about using ginseng, and drinking coffee to help you keep alert and awake? I hope that one comes to mind because it’s about to become a “festival” at your house. We’re going to cover more on this in the next segment.

13. Obtain that “second set” of electronic equipment. Oh yeah, the one JJ continuously warns about! Well, now that all your electronics that were exposed are junk, I hope you made some Faraday cages and stashed an extra one of those radios…or even several, for those of you who thought long-term. You need to find out what’s going on. Ham radios may help if you shielded them. So may CB’s and satellite phones.

14. Arm the whole family: by the time you reach home, every family member either accompanying you (small children and toddlers excepted) should be armed. Time to really see how tight and full of solidarity you are as a real family unit…one that must fight in order to survive.

15. Exit stage left: You may just find that the homecoming isn’t; that is, you must write it off as a loss and get out of there…it’s either destroyed and burning or occupied by the marauders. Unless you have the skills and the ability to deal with all of them, it is better to retreat and stay alive. You need a plan in place in order to make this work.

We’ve covered a lot of information here. This is all designed to stimulate those creative thought processes. The thinking alone is not enough: you must formulate a plan and then implement it. A plan without action is of no use. A plan executed too late is a tragedy: a funeral dirge getting ready to play. Don’t be too late to formulate your plan for you and your family. If the lights go out, it doesn’t necessarily mean that the party’s over…and the party may be one that never comes to an end. Fight that good fight each and every day! JJ out!

Simple really….when the World Economy Collapses everything shuts down…the end….we’re talking about grids down all over the world and 7.5B people dropping like f*** flies in short order…The collapse will be absolutely horrible..There is no collapse or horror movie ever produced that has even come close to imagining what the collapse of BAU might look like. I’m talking about every corporation and every social program going bankrupt at once. I’m talking about people eating people. I’m talking about the Worst Catastrophe to ever happen in the history of mankind. Nothing has ever, or will ever come close.

paultard on Sun, 13th Aug 2017 11:27 am

extremist tard preachers and tard fans killed a woman. they’re in big trouble now. i only object to women picking up poop. i’d send all tards in the immediate vicinity to heaven that way.

this is why i want women to enlist and fight their way out of poverty. warfare isn’t all about physical fitness. that’s why we have drones, heavy machinery and precision guided rockets. women can play very important in pacifying an area as vast as siberia.

paultard on Sun, 13th Aug 2017 11:30 am

when extremist tard preachers and tardfans killed a woman, all arguments are off.

they need to hide.

i don’t score but i don’t hate women like extremsit tard preachers. i love women and i realized men have been fighting their way out of povery for a long time such as the french legion.

there are tons of jobs in combat for women and there are tons of women at fighting age world wide. we need to recruit them.

Bloomer on Sun, 13th Aug 2017 12:21 pm

Our entire economy is a house of cards. The entire food chain is a process of just in time inventory that relies on transportation and machinery. I suppose some people could survive by eating wild plants and animals. But that too will become scarce. More likely scenario is people eating one another. Not a world that I want to inhabit.

Davy on Sun, 13th Aug 2017 1:08 pm

Bloomer, It has been my intellectual pursuit to determine this process. It does not necessarily have to be an either or. In my mind it is the trend and the direction but the process is location and time dependent. I would not get too emotional about it just yet. We could have years of status quo ahead or the SHTF could happen very soon. This is why I am a prepper and why I explore doom daily.

The Oil Age may come to an end for a shortage of oil. -Saudi Oil Minister Sheikh Yamani

onlooker on Sun, 13th Aug 2017 2:06 pm

Bloomer, it is a house of cards because we have built an entire worldwide industrial civilization and have populated the Earth so much and have we stopped to really think if we could sustain all this. The answer is becoming ever more apparent that we cannot.

The internet don’t mean shit if you’re anonymous, it’s what you say in public. I have spoken out and paid the price. Those who know, but remained silent so as to not risk their social monkey standing and possibly their employment have to live with knowing you said nothing. It’s too late to stop what’s coming, but not to late to shore up the defenses on all levels to avoid and delay the suffering of you and you loved ones. Personal prepping is not enough unless you live in a cabin in the mountains. It needs to be the community or town or city. I believe the humans are going down, but how long do you want to last? Do you want to give your kids a better chance? A longer life and/or less suffering? Compare clog’s Holland who has and is preparing their defenses as well as anyone in the world and buying themselves the Maximum amount of time vs Egypt who has done very little. Who will last longer in the SLR battle? As long as the denial keeps up then expect nothing but the worst for you and yours. Politicians who deny the predicaments are not going to spend any real resources to protect you. That should be all that matters now since it’s too late to stop what’s coming and we all know the humans will never give up their reward seeking which is made possible at the current level from magic oil. The countries that are in the most denial and do next to nothing will be gone first no matter how much oil or military might or technology or brain power they have. I say put the military to work, before the disasters hit clearing wildfire fuel and carving out fire breaks and working on flood control infrastructure. Preparing for the inevitable. Implement a draft and put all those angry young energy bunnies like at that rally in Virginia to work protecting the homeland. Let them burn off that energy for something useful. It’s starting to look like the middle east ffs. Or say and do nothing and watch your families suffer and die much earlier than they have too.

newfie on Sun, 13th Aug 2017 6:17 pm

Life might not be worth living in that kind of world.

rockman on Sun, 13th Aug 2017 6:30 pm

newfie – There are many spots in the world today where life might not seem like it’s worth living. But it appears everyone in those areas are doing all they can to survive. Go figure. LOL.

onlooker on Sun, 13th Aug 2017 6:48 pm

Good points Rock and Newf. This highlights the challenges going forward. We are facing a world whereby everyone naturally wishes to survive and whereby those of us who live in what is right now decent places to live do not wish to give up easily that life and will also realize that too many newcomers will further destablize their areas. Surviving and living are two different things. It echoes the line of thinking of Ibon, that maybe the true compassion is leaving those already doomed to their fate and attempting to save the people and areas which truly stand a chance. A most disturbing ethical question. But we need to start thinking about these things.

Bloomer on Sun, 13th Aug 2017 7:58 pm

The military is all ready busy lending support at the British Columbia wild fires which continue to rage out of control.

Spreading the word of climate change can influence some people, here on the net and in social circles. However, those with deep pockets and self interest will counter this with disinformation through their proxy think tanks and controlled media.

We likely need to see a major climate disaster before the masses wake up. My guess a giant forest fire or major flooding “like the world has never seen”.

JuanP on Sun, 13th Aug 2017 8:08 pm

Onlooker “It echoes the line of thinking of Ibon, that maybe the true compassion is leaving those already doomed to their fate and attempting to save the people and areas which truly stand a chance. A most disturbing ethical question. But we need to start thinking about these things.” I agree with Ibon on that. I used to think differently and regularly donated money to and volunteered with organizations that fed the poor, but I stopped doing that. I stopped my last involvement with any of these programs when I quit my position in the organizing committee for Seeds for Haiti in May. There is no point in doing that and in the long run it only aggravates the issue. The only charity I support at this time is No Scalpel Vasectomy International (NSVI) and a local drug rehab clinic for pregnant women and women with kids where my wife and I teach organic food growing weekly in a raised bed garden that we designed, financed, and built ourselves with the help of other people. I have reached the conclusion that feeding starving people is counterproductive.

peakyeast on Sun, 13th Aug 2017 8:17 pm

@JuanP: Totally agree with your mindset and decisions.

bobinget on Sun, 13th Aug 2017 8:19 pm

Solving AGW compared to a solar flare breaker buster or EMP. Which is worse?

I live in a house built before electricity came to the area. Reports of folks eating each other, rare.
(early settlers had to watch TV by candle-light)

The entire Left Coast infrastructure could be destroyed in five Hellish moments.
(only four for the old)

My generation were told, in a nuclear event, AKA
atom bomb, make sure to cover the back of your neck with BOTH hands. Don’r forget! It’s worked, seventy years for me.

(none of us forth graders really believed we would survive more than a few seconds)

Articles like the one above are published to scare the crap outta you. The more people frightened justifies first strike.

jawagord on Sun, 13th Aug 2017 8:23 pm

Bloomer, Apparently the world has seen bigger forest fires in BC.

“Kevin Skrepnek of the B.C. Wildfire Service said Thursday that 4,910 square kilometres of forest, bush and grassland have been torched, making 2017 the second worst in recorded history in terms of land destroyed.

“I think it’s important for everyone to remember we are only in early August at this point,” Skrepnek told reporters during a daily wildfire conference call.

B.C.’s most devastating fire season on record was in 1958, when flames consumed about 8,560 square kilometres.”

onlooker on Sun, 13th Aug 2017 8:29 pm

Yes Juan, I hear you. It goes against my moral inclinations but the world has now reached that point. Me and my wife donate to St Jude’s as their mission is wonderful both because of the treatment they provide to children for that dreaded disease and because they do not charge for their services. Imagine that people helping each other without expectation of payment just because they wish to.

paultard on Sun, 13th Aug 2017 9:08 pm

guys tard extremist preachers are in panic mode. of coruse they’re going into elimination mode much like Fuhrer elimiated the SA during night of the long knife, remember?

whoa i hope tard extermist preachers get bullet to the head.

paultard on Sun, 13th Aug 2017 9:13 pm

guys when i was a paultard i was taught peace and love. this is why i wasn’t afraid and i went to the population to deliver the peace virus. we won IOWA guys. our fieldtards certainly know peace. without it we would fear our enemies and everyone aroudn us. It’s called “projection”.

Do tard extremist preachers know this? Nah. there was never a “unite the paultards” because wef were already united. This is the dangerous point for tard extermist preachers and they felt necessary to unite. You can’t believe the amount of tact that goes into such thinking. in case it’s not obvious, i’m saying it’s tarding hard.

wow just imagine all tar extermist preachers dead does it realy matter? I don’t think so.

paultard on Sun, 13th Aug 2017 9:15 pm

what do you do when your idealogy is kill kill kill? of coruse your fieldtards are going to do violence, duh! like driving car to crowd but we know only ISIS does that right? Nah…

paultard’s message was peace/love. no problem there.

paultard on Sun, 13th Aug 2017 9:21 pm

of course a woman is dead and that’s a no no. now there’s subpena and obstruction of justice. some field tard may take steps to eliminate tard extremist preachers to cover their tracks.

bad stuff all around.

Apneaman on Sun, 13th Aug 2017 9:22 pm

jawagord, there is a huge difference in the firefighting technology, experience and equipment of 1958 compared to today. The first wayerbombers (scoopers in BC) were just being invented and used around that time and I don’t think they had the helicopters like today and they did not have satellites and advanced communication like today. It wasn’t the dark ages, but it was still early days in 1958.

TURCOTTE: Smoke jumpers were a small but brave crew

“There are still many pieces to be found in the Canadian history jigsaw puzzle. In view of the recent outbreaks of wildfires in British Columbia, and elsewhere, this is the right time to tell the story of Canada’s first smoke jumpers, the original 125 men who worked in Saskatchewan jumping from planes to put out forest fires. The Saskatchewan Fire Jumpers, as they were known, began their mission in 1947 and continued until 1967 when the group disbanded.

During that time period, these men were an important element in the fighting of forest fires. The water bomber hadn’t yet appeared on the scene. Well trained as firefighters and as parachutists, the jumpers would be flown to an area where a small forest fire had been started, usually by lightning strike, and would jump to the site where they would have to work hard on the ground to extinguish the fire. This was not as easy as it may sound. For one thing, they would have to jump with all the equipment they would need, as well as enough food to last several days. Once the fire was out, they would have to hike to a location on a lake or river where a floatplane could land and pick them up. This might be several miles from the fire site. The whole process was a very strenuous one, so these men had to be in excellent physical condition. Regular exercise was an important part of their training.”

“When helicopters and water bombers came into existence, it was considered that smoke jumpers were no longer needed. However, there are still many in North America, including Canada. These intrepid men are put to work, usually in remote and mountainous areas such as British Columbia. Most of us rarely hear about them and the work they do.

Modern aerial firefighting is a very precise procedure. When there is a big fire, spotter planes circle the area with trained spotters who send information to aerial crews about where and when to drop their loads of water. The water bombers are large planes with a crew of only two. The planes skim over the surface of a local lake, picking up huge loads of water which is then dropped on the fire at the designated location. Sometimes fire retardant is added to the water to help keep the fire in check.”

I have heard claims from men who know the BC bush that the firefighting has been so successful over the years that it has made conditions worse. Prevented the natural fire cycle from doing it’s thing.

Mike Flannigan has been studying and observing and collecting data on Alberta forests for over 30 years. Flannigan and other wildfire and forestry scientists from BC and Alberta have disturbing news. Ignoring their umpteen warnings will result in death & destruction on a whole new scale. In addition this years fires have put a big economic dent in tourism, which is a big industry (7 billion per year) in BC.

“While doing research for a book I was writing on wildfire, I posed two questions to a number of experts: “Do you think there will be another Fort McMurray-like fire in the future? If so, where do you think it will happen?”

Everyone agreed on the first question. Fort McMurray was not an anomaly. It will happen again, sooner rather than later, and likely with deadly consequences.

The responses to the second question varied. University of Alberta wildfire scientist Mike Flannigan had many First Nations communities, Prince George in British Columbia and Timmins in northern Ontario high on his list.

Cliff White, a former Parks Canada scientist and one of the architects of the agency’s wildfire management program, suggested that Sulphur Mountain in Banff could burn, endangering thousands of hikers and tourists.

Wildfire scientists Brian Stocks and Marty Alexander cast a broader net. They suggested that hundreds of communities are at risk.”